CALGARY - The hours of daylight are steadily diminishing as the march toward autumn continues.

But the days themselves are no shorter for the Bertens family — and their six full-time workers — as they raise dairy cows and grow crops on their dairy farm east of Olds. They start early, at 4 a.m., with the milking of 450 cows and work stretches through the day as they take care of crops and calvings into the dusky evenings when work finishes around 8:30 p.m.

In the summer, it’s all hands on deck with the twice-daily milkings and handling the fields of barley, corn, canola and wheat.

The farm is a family affair, with eldest son Stijn, 21, working alongside his father after studying agriculture management at Olds College and dairy science at a school in Wisconsin. (Middle son Joris, 19, is taking agriculture business and animal science at the University of Saskatchewan, while 16-year-old Claire is in high school and is considering attending veterinary school.)

“We are a family operation,” says Ad.

And, as the next round of harvest nears, Ad and Stijn are kept far from the kitchen table for meals, dining instead out in the field. For the family who have been raising dairy cows here in Canada for 18 years — and for 17 before that in Holland before Ad and wife Anja immigrated to Alberta to make a better life for their children — it’s unsurprising those mid-day meals, even on the go, include milk and milk products.

“We definitely use a lot of dairy,” says Ad, laughing.

Cream in their morning coffee, cheese sandwiches, cheese sticks and yogurt while out in the field, dairy is simply part of everyday life.

Keeping everyone fed is Anja, who loves to bake and seeks inspiration and new recipes from websites run by Dairy Farmers of Canada.

“My mom is big into making recipes and there are a lot of good websites,” says Stijn.

Registered dietitian Vincci Tsui says when eating on the go, dairy is a good thing to be grabbing.

Unlike crackers or a granola bar — or nutritional offenders like chips or a chocolate bar — dairy is an inexpensive and good source of protein, which keeps people from being hungry an hour or two later.

“Protein helps people feel more satisfied longer,” she says. “So, when meal time rolls around, they’re not starving or snacking or overeating because they’re too hungry.”

It can be as simple as grabbing a tetra pack of milk, toting along some yogurt or cottage cheese. Cheese is a good option as well, provided people pay attention to serving sizes, Tsui says.

Adding milk or milk products at every meal, including lunch, helps people get the recommended number of servings; the average Canadian, says Tsui, only gets a little more than one per day.

“Most people struggle to get (their) two to three servings a day,” she says.

The Bertens need that protein to power them through the long days, but Stijn says the hard work is worth it.

“For me, I just love the animals, looking after them,” he says, noting the continuous circle of life is amazing to see. “I don’t consider it a job; it’s a lifestyle. You love to do it. It’s part of your life.”

Three Seed Yogurt Muffins

Tasty muffins chock full of colourful and crunchy seeds make a satisfying breakfast with a glass of milk and a piece of fresh fruit. This recipe comes from the Dairy Farmers of Canada and can be found — along with numerous others — at Dairygoodness.ca.

Spoon into prepared muffin pan; sprinkle tops with pumpkin seeds and sunflower seeds. Bake for about 25 minutes or until tops are firm to the touch. Let cool in pan for 5 minutes. Transfer to rack to cool completely.

Preparation time: 10 minutes

Baking time: 25 minutes

Yield: 12 muffins

Cooking Tip: Cracked flax seeds add a nice texture and allow the nutrients to be digested better than in whole flax seeds. To crack them, pulse a few times in a coffee or spice grinder or use a mortar and pestle to crack the seeds without grinding them to a powder.